Texas Motor Speedway

With intense heat and a new race weekend format to contend with, Simona de Silvestro showed steady improvement on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

The IZOD IndyCar Series introduced a new dual-race schedule this weekend: The Firestone Twin 275s, two 114-lap races, run consecutively. The new format proved to be a hit with the fan base, and even the drivers seemed to have fun with the "random draw" for starting positions in race two.

Simona de Silvestro, Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing

Photo by: Covy Moore

De Silvestro, who qualified the car P29 on Friday for the first race, drew a P22 for the second. Despite a P26/P27 finish for the two races, she showed tremendous improvement throughout the course of the 228 combined laps.

"In both races, it was really about getting my confidence back, trying some things and learning a lot," says de Silvestro. "The ovals aren't my strong point, but I'm learning from each race. The team pushed me tonight and I was able to give some great feedback. I know that the Nuclear Clean Air Energy team is behind me and I think we can be happy with what we did. Plus, I'm pretty sure the fans liked the dual-race format and it's great when we can put on a good show for them."